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Financial planners, who give advice about investments worth $560 billion, are failing to reveal millions of dollars of kickbacks they get from product providers.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said in a report released yesterday that some financial advisers either failed to reveal or were vague about kickbacks they received for selling financial products to clients, despite a legal requirement to do so.

In many cases, kickbacks, including overseas trips, share options and cash bonuses, might have influenced the adviser's recommendation, ASIC found.

The report said companies employing advisers enjoyed benefits that included free office equipment, fee rebates and cheap loans - in one case, for $5 million.

Financial planners advise on about 80 per cent of money flowing into managed funds. There is an estimated $560 billion under advice - a figure that is expected to grow as more people save for retirement.

ASIC found 11 types of soft-dollar commissions received by 40 financial planning companies and investigated whether they led to conflicts of interest.

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Most soft-dollar kickbacks were ultimately derived from consumers' investments or premiums, the report said.

ASIC examined whether disclosure was made when companies and advisers received soft-dollar kickbacks, such as higher commission rates based on sales volumes, "marketing support" payments and profit-sharing arrangements.

"Our research shows that soft-dollar benefits have the potential to influence advice (directly and indirectly)," the report said. "Some of these benefits mean financial planning firms and planners have a financial incentive to recommend one strategy or product over another.

"Product providers presumably offer soft-dollar benefits in an attempt to alter the behaviour of advisers and/or their licensees."

ASIC will ask individual companies to review their disclosure procedures and flagged the possibility of formal surveillance next financial year.

The Federal Opposition spokesman for financial services, Stephen Conroy, said the report showed that self-regulation had failed and that some kickbacks should be banned.

"Many consumers assume that they are being given impartial advice when, in reality, they are not in some cases," he said.

"The range of payments, the complexity of those arrangements and the strength of the conflicts they generate indicate that we need to go beyond the approach of 'anything goes as long as you disclose'."

ASIC's executive director of consumer protection, Greg Tanzer, said that when advisers accepted benefits that could influence their advice, the law required that those benefits be disclosed.

"Consumers need to know whether their adviser is in a position to give impartial advice, as this may affect their decision about whether to act on the advice," he said.